DAM – Food Democracy in the dynamics of markets

A reconfiguration of roles of market actors and societies can be observed through a reconnection between agriculture and food and through mechanisms underpinning this recomposition. This reconnection is conducive to the development of a food democracy, in which all stakeholders (including citizens, farmers and artisans) find ways of guiding the evolution of food systems towards more sustainable ones. Analyzed so far mainly in the context of advocacy networks, these dynamics are now expanding to a wider public and acquire sense in the light of contemporary societal changes in the North as well as in the South.

Objectives

The Dam group endeavours to understand and support social innovation in food markets and systems in pursuit of greater food democracy. In order to do so, the group studies networks and mechanisms that facilitate or block market developments, contributes to associated social innovations and evaluates them in terms of their ability to increase the sustainability of food systems. Emphasis is laid on the social level by exploring the contribution of research in addressing issues and mechanisms involved in social innovation.

Research topics

    Market linkages between agriculture and food: short food supply chains, local procurement for food aid, participatory guarantee systems, the right to food, food sovereignty projects, etc. How and under what conditions do these instruments lead to new agriculture-food market linkages that are associated with more sustainable practices?

    Indicators and research mechanisms for social and economic sustainability of food systems. Based on dynamics that we observe or support, what new types of indicators and research mechanisms would be relevant to socially and economically sustainable food systems?

    Social and institutional innovations and market dynamics: How can our analysis help in designing more suitable mechanisms for addressing issues of sustainability, both at the macro level (political, legal) and the micro level (for the actors)?

Diversity of innovations

The Dam group is on the frontlines of research into social innovation. Its first challenge is to identify and analyze innovations pertaining to food-agriculture reconnections, especially those that are part of everyday life and those that leverage the experience of citizens. The second challenge is to understand the emergence of these innovations – and the conditions under which a change of scale is possible – by exploring the effect of policies and the role of public-private partnerships. The last challenge is not only to equip stakeholders, in partnership and with the support of experiments, so that they can implement changes but also to remain critical about innovation processes in a true adherence to democratic fundamentals.

Disciplines 

The disciplines involved are sociology, economics and management.

Locations

The locations are all in France (mainly Languedoc).

Partenaires

Scientific partnerships: LISST joint research unit, CIEU (Toulouse), Maison des Sciences de l’Homme de Montpellier (research group on social innovations), Chaire Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) en Alimentations du Monde (Supagro-Montpellier), CRISES (University of Quebec, Montreal), LISIS joint research unit (Marne-La-Vallée).

Scientific associations: European Society of Rural Sociology (ESRS), Réseau Inter-Universitaire d’Economie et Sociologie Rurale (RIEUSS).

Development partnerships: Public services, agricultural associations and organizations, local authorities, civil society organizations.